live through this

And now, selections from the remainder of the film from Ye Olde Britannia Tour, circa June 2010. Relive the summer fun:




on the Irish Sea






Irishmen


North Sea. You'd think we spent the whole tour at the beach.




Bob & Laura. They've since eloped.








on Dean's farm, Leighton Buzzard


Band of Horses, Wolverhampton






tour photo. Featuring our most gracious hostess Elaine, and the Brothers Lynch (far right).



photos by will

six more days on the road

We're bringing our fruitful professional relationship with Band of Horses stateside in September, where you can see us and them and even Admiral Radley on the same stage. Which fulfills of our years-long dream of playing both of California's fabled Greek Theaters on one tour. So fabled Huell Howser's probably visited em. Teddy Roosevelt did (the Berkeley one), that's for sure. So did the Dalai Lama. And soon, us:

September 24. Berkeley. Greek Theatre
September 25. L.A. Greek Theatre
September 27. Las Vegas. The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel
September 28. Salt Lake City. In The Venue
September 29. Denver. Fillmore Auditorium

Alive Comes Alive!

After our old Roswell Record Release Party-With-An-Alien failed to catch on with the financiers, and months and months of subsequent careful consideration of highly competitive bids from several world-class venues, we have decided to celebrate the release of Alive As You Are with a LIVE performance at the following:

Tuesday, August 17. L.A. Bootleg Theater (with Wounded Lion)
Thursday, August 19. S.F. The Independent (with Sonny & The Sunsets)

These should be pretty enjoyable. The Bootleg is on Beverly Blvd, across from Brooklyn Bagel, which is the only place to get a fresh bagel in this godforsaken town, and there's free parking behind Praise Christian Church, which proves that this town is not godforsaken after all. The Independent is on Divis, in local parlance, and is where we had our last record release show, which was capped off by Jared taking a pie in the face, what fun. Both of these shows will be 21+, on account of adult content.

There will also be an in-store performance at a record store in each locale, if you're on a budget and/or 14 years old. Details forthcoming.


a lame metaphor? where? is it over here?

light flight

Glahz-guh


this was at like 10:30 p.m.




it's tough being the support band


seafaring, more or less


Irish Sea






Little John's buried here




the farm, Leighton Buzzard




croqueheads


Young Mick, Young Bono, Young Keith Moon, Young Sting, Fat John Martyn and 2/5 of Darker My Love have all rinsed their hands and dried them off on their trousers here.


photos by will

split minute

we put another new song on our myspace. it's called "Split Minute" and it's on our new record and now you can hear it.

through the dark wicket

Croquetmania has bitten the band. We'll be importing it to the states - namely, Elysian Park - in short order, to be played on one of the days we're not already meeting at Burger King at 7 am to play gin rummy 500.


croquet

Stayed 2 nights at our new friend Dean's honest-to-Jehu farm in semirural Leighton Buzzard (which is a town, and somehow not the name of a forgotten 70's British metal band). Made peace with cows, played sherpa with sheep, grilled mackerel and pork shoulder and adopted croquet, or our own version of it, until long after dark, and again at the crack of dawn. Didn't watch any World Cup. It made us feel good.


good morning!

Now we're in Wolverhampton, scene of our last show with Band of Horses. They're dudes of the best variety - genuine, beer-battered country-fried ones - and we wish them the best of luck on their journey.


Roundhouse


for Keith

PSYCHEDELIC SOUNDS OF THE SONIC CATHERDAL OUT NOW

Guess what: Roky Erickson/13th Floor Elevators tribute album The Psychedelic Sounds of the Sonic Cathedral - which includes our cover of "She Lives (In a Time of Her Own)" - is out (as the subject so subtly implies). Now that we've held it in our hands, we can say it looks, feels and sounds badass, and you should buy it here:

swift kick

London Roundhouse tonight. This place is big and badass. Also, round.

Managed (barely) to escape Manchester last night, but failed to allot enough time this morning to visit the scene of Rick Allen's limb-severing.
(scenes:)


That's the chocolate!

Ireland

We have to cryogenically freeze Jared before every show to prevent chop deterioration. It's on our rider.


Irish Sea. Leprechauns, Lucky Charms, etc., etc.


John, our moral support agent and driver, view'd through Malahide Castle. While built in the 12th century and occupied by the same family for 800 years, it's frozen in 1975, when the old lady that lived there alone retired to Tasmania. Plush carpeting, wallpaper, the musty smell of isolation in the 1970's. We played American football on the front lawn. Tim/Jared 28, Rob/Will 21.

another day, another metal show

So we needed to play a warmup show. We've been practicing in a cramped room at Rob's house all month and needed to get our stage legs before these big Band of Horses shows and all. Which is why we found ourselves flying into Glasgow (pronounced Glahz-guh) and playing at the venerable King Tut's Wah-Wah Hut, site of Alan McGee's discovery of Oasis in 1993. Only thing is, we were on a bill with 3 prog-hardcore/bordering-on-grindcore metal bands, the likes of which haven't been seen stateside since 2000. That was ten years ago. One of them had a live hawk on stage, wearing a headset, screeching at key moments. Or at least that's what it sounded like from 2 floors up. All this just when we've practically exorcised all the fuzz from our set. We even almost got the elusive no-clap after a song, until somebody broke the silence in pitiful fashion. It didn't get dark until 11. The whole thing was fucked up and retarded as shit, and we'd like to thank our booking agent.

Otherwise, while we did get to taste the National Canned Beverage of Scotland - Irn Bru (pictured below) - which tastes exactly like bubble gum from a pack of last year's Topps baseball cards, we didn't manage to get thee to a chippie for another Glasgow classic, the deep fried Mars Bar. Because what donuts are to Chinese restaurants in LA, deep fried Mars Bars are to fish-n-chippies in Glasgow. As in hey, we got this deep fryer, might as well use it.